To the editor:

Recently, I was sitting in backed-up traffic on the Kansas River bridge, noticing that it took nearly 10 minutes to reach the other side because of road construction work. It occurred to me that if there was a fire on any commercial or residential building in North Lawrence or a catastrophe on the Turnpike or at the airport, that the fire department could not get to North Lawrence without a long delay or going all the way to the West Lawrence Turnpike interchange. It led me to wonder why there is no fire station in North Lawrence.

The city can spend money on golf courses, empty buses, roundabouts and cleanup of toxic industrial sites, but cannot provide the basic services to the people of North Lawrence. I suggest that Mr. Corliss and city officials quickly do what they can to protect the interests of businesses, property owners and the airport in North Lawrence.

Darryl Graves,

Lawrence